Wednesday, April 27, 2016

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN THIRD ANNUAL CAMPUS 1871 STARTUP WEEKEND IN CHICAGO

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS STUDENTS PARTICIPATE IN THIRD ANNUAL CAMPUS 1871 STARTUP WEEKEND IN CHICAGO

Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - 15:50

AMELIA SALTER

ECONOMIC OUTREACH COORDINATOR

In early April, Chicago technology incubator, 1871, brought more than 90 talented students together from across Illinois to develop and pitch real startup companies at the third annual Campus 1871 event. Twenty-one students hailed from our Urbana-Champaign, Chicago, and Springfield campuses and included a diverse group of students from the Colleges of Engineering, Business, and Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the School of Public Health. Others came from the University of Chicago, Northwestern, IIT, Loyola, and DeVry.

I had the pleasure of helping event organizers with the weekend long startup competition, which included a keynote from 1871 CEO Howard Tullman, a Q&A with a panel of successful founders from 1871, and sessions on how to build a business plan, perfect your pitch, and design the ideal user experience. Several U of I staff and alumni were also on hand to offer up mentorship and guidance to the student teams at Campus 1871. Stephanie Larson, Assistant Director of Student Programs & Marketing at the UIUC Technology Entrepreneurship Center (@TECenter) and Joey Mak, OVPR’s Director of Economic Development, provided input on each team’s business plan, while UIUC alumnus Marty Malone (@martymal1) helped students practice their pitching.

Students self-selected into 12 teams and spent the weekend developing their business idea. The weekend culminated with each team pitching their idea to a panel of judges.

This year’s competition was fierce and several of the teams presented creative and well-thought-out business ideas. Two teams tied for third place: EquipMe, an online platform connect people with disabilities to the medical equipment they need, and AnySpace, a platform that allows users to rent out their extra space for social events. Second place went to dating app, ChiDates, which is leveraging video capabilities to create new user connections. Each of the teams received a 3-month membership to 1871.

UIC industrial engineering student Maria Mckiever had the winning idea. Grapevine, a startup that connects users with stylists in the black hair care community, is based on Mckiever’s personal experience of having to find stylists through the grapevine. The Grapevine team, which included students from Northwestern, University of Chicago, and IIT, received a 6-month membership to 1871.

“Campus 1871 was an incredible experience because it allowed students from all different universities and perspectives to come together to build out an idea,” says Mckiever. “Our team is so excited to continue working on making Grapevine a reality.” Read the ChicagoInno article about the team here.

Overall, the weekend was packed full of entrepreneurship, innovation, and inspiration. It was wonderful to watch students from different schools, majors, and backgrounds come together. Congrats to all the students who participated and big thanks to the entire 1871 staff (@1871Chicago) for a wonderful event!